NPR: Planet Money
Money makes the world go around, faster and faster every day. On NPR's Planet Money, you'll meet high rollers, brainy economists and regular folks -- all trying to make sense of our rapidly changing global economy.
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#566: The Zoo Economy
Zoo animals are different than most possessions, because zoos follow ...
Zoo animals are different than most possessions, because zoos follow a fundamental principle: You can't sell or buy the animals. It's unethical and illegal to put a price tag on an elephant's head. Today on the show: What do you do in a world where you can't use money? For more: n.pr/1wbZb5S
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#565: The Story Of Alibaba
A massive Chinese company, Alibaba, is about to have what ...
A massive Chinese company, Alibaba, is about to have what could be the biggest public offering on planet earth.You can think of Alibaba like Amazon or Ebay, except you can buy way more — you can get a used 747 airplane, or an oil tanker, or 500 million tiny screws.Today on the show, the company that made it possible for anyone anywhere to build almost anything they want. What that company means for China, for the rest of us and for some chickens in California. For more: http://n.pr/1oEZY9J
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#564: The Signature
Some people write a squiggle. Others just write an initial. ...
Some people write a squiggle. Others just write an initial. One person draws a dude surfing. Today on the show: the signature. It's supposed to say, "This is me." But where did the idea come from? And why are we still using it? We consult a rabbi, a lawyer and a credit card executive.
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#563: "I Was Wrong"
The world is full of people talking about how right ...
The world is full of people talking about how right they are. Today on the show, we try something different: We talk to smart, thoughtful people about times they got things really, really wrong. For more: http://n.pr/1lfnG0Y
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#562: A Mall Divided
The Westfield Valley Fair Mall in California is like any ...
The Westfield Valley Fair Mall in California is like any other mall except for one thing: half of the mall is in the city of San Jose and the other half is in the city of Santa Clara. The boundary line runs right through the mall. For a long time, this didn't matter. But in 2012, one city — San Jose — raised its minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour. This change created two economic worlds within a single, large building. Employees doing more or less the same work, just steps away from each other, started making different wages. On today's show: minimum wage stories from a single mall. What happens when some stores suddenly have to pay their workers more — and others are still paying less.
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#485: What's Your Major?
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in ...
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in September 2013. Sure, some college degrees lead to higher paying jobs than others. But what's shocking — at least, it was shocking to us — is just how big the gap can be. The most lucrative majors typically lead to jobs with salaries over $100,000 a year. The least lucrative lead to salaries of around $30,000. On today's show, we run the numbers. We talk to people who majored in the most- and least-lucrative subjects. And we hear from an economist who says, when it comes to income, choosing a major is more important than choosing a college.
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#561: How The Future Looked 50 Years Ago
We spend a lot of time thinking about the future ...
We spend a lot of time thinking about the future and planning for the future. Fifty years ago, people at the 1964 World's Fair built their vision of the future. They imagined a world of jet-packs, steel, glass, and Formica. And they committed to it in a park in New York City.Today on the show, we visit that park and visit the future as seen from the World's Fair in 1964. And we see how the future actually turned out.
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#560: Hunting For The Hundreds
The 100 dollar bill is the most popular product from ...
The 100 dollar bill is the most popular product from the Federal Reserve. Eighty percent of all U.S. cash is in the form of 100 dollar bills, but you rarely see them. About twenty years ago, the Fed counted up all the hundreds it knew about — money in bank vaults and cash registers — and it found it had no idea where most of the hundred dollar bills had gone. And so they went on a mission to find them. Today on the show, where in the world are all the 100 dollar bills? What is Benjamin Franklin being used for? And if we don't know where they all are, should the U.S. keep making them?
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#559: Detroit's Water Bill
Thousands of people in Detroit haven't paid their water bills. Even some businesses have ...
Thousands of people in Detroit haven't paid their water bills. Even some businesses have skipped payment. Today on the show, how a bankrupt city is dealing with the most basic of problems — how to get people to pay their bills.
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#451: Why Some People Love Tax Day
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in April ...
Note: Today's show is a rerun. It originally ran in April 2013.In 2012, a federal program took about $60 billion from wealthier Americans and gave it to millions of working poor. This program — a massive redistribution of wealth — has been embraced by every president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama.On today's show, we look at a huge, often overlooked, surprisingly interesting corner of the tax code: The Earned Income Tax Credit.For more, see our story A Surprisingly Uncontroversial Program That Gives Money To Poor People.
